Techniques for persisting data across instances of a cloud shell

ABSTRACT

Techniques for persisting user data across secure shell instances are provided. The techniques include a method wherein a computer system receives a request to reserve a block volume, the request being received from a session manager service. The method also includes reserving the block volume, identifying a data center identifier of the block volume, returning the data center identifier of the block volume to the session manager service, attaching the block volume to a volume management fleet machine, receiving an instruction from the session manager service to release the block volume, creating a backup of the block volume comprising the data stored in the block volume, and releasing the block volume.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No.______, filed on ______, entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR UTILIZING MULTIPLENETWORK INTERFACES FOR A CLOUD SHELL” and U.S. Non-Provisionalapplication Ser. No. ______, filed on ______, entitled “TECHNIQUES FORUSING SIGNED NONCES TO SECURE CLOUD SHELLS,” the disclosures of whichare incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cloud-based platforms provide scalable and flexible computing resourcesfor users. Such cloud-based platforms, also referred to asinfrastructure as a service (IaaS), may offer entire suites of cloudsolutions around a customer's data, for example, solutions for authoringtransformations, loading data, and presenting the data. IaaS systems mayimplement data replication and backup to preserve user data.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Techniques are provided (e.g., a method, a system, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing code or instructions executable by oneor more processors) for persisting user data across secure shellinstances, using restored block volumes and terminating instancesbetween sessions.

In an embodiment, a method includes receiving, by a computer system, arequest to reserve a block volume, the request being received from asession manager service. The method may include reserving, by thecomputer system, the block volume. The method may include identifying,by the computer system, a data center identifier of the block volume.The method may include returning, by the computer system, the datacenter identifier of the block volume to the session manager service.The method may include attaching, by the computer system, the blockvolume. The method may include receiving, by the computer system, aninstruction from the session manager service to release the blockvolume. The method may include creating, by the computer system, abackup of the block volume comprising the data stored in the blockvolume. The method may also include releasing, by the computer system,the block volume.

In a variation, the request may include a user identifier, and whereinreserving the block volume comprises, determining whether a registeredblock volume is allocated to a user corresponding to the useridentifier, and, in accordance with a registered block volume beingallocated to the user, reserving the registered block volume, and inaccordance with a registered block volume not being allocated to a usercorresponding to the user identifier, reserving an empty volume from apool of empty volumes, the empty volume being preformatted to dock witha secure cloud shell. The method may further include receiving a requestto restore the block volume, the request received from the sessionmanager service, creating a restore volume using the backup of the blockvolume, the restore volume comprising the data stored in the blockvolume, and returning a data center identifier of the restore volume tothe session manager service. The backup of the block volume may furtherinclude an identifier of the backup, and wherein creating the restorevolume may include reserving an empty block volume from a pool of emptyvolumes, the empty block volume being preformatted to dock with a securecloud shell, retrieving the backup of the block volume using theidentifier of the backup, provisioning the empty block volume at leastin part by loading the backup of the block volume onto the empty blockvolume, and identifying the data center identifier of the empty blockvolume as the data center identifier of the restore volume. Creating thebackup of the block volume may include creating a disk image of theblock volume. Creating the backup of the block volume may includeconverting data of the block volume to object data and storing theobject data in an object storage system.

In certain embodiments, a computer system includes one or moreprocessors and a memory in communication with the one or moreprocessors, the memory configured to store computer-executableinstructions, wherein executing the computer-executable instructionscauses the one or more processors to perform one or more of the steps ofthe method described above.

In certain embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium storescomputer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or moreprocessors of a computer system to perform one or more steps of themethod described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for managing secure shellinstances, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example technique for reserving a block volume fora secure shell instance, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example technique for releasing a block volumeincluding user data from a secure shell instance, in accordance with oneor more embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example technique for restoring a block volume fora restored secure shell instance, in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sequence diagram showing an example data flow bywhich a block volume including user data is released, in accordance withone or more embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a sequence diagram showing an example data flow bywhich user data is persisted to a restored secure shell instance, inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example flow for releasing a block volume for asecure shell instance, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example flow for reserving a block volume for asecure shell instance, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example flow for restoring a block volume for asecure shell instance, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating one pattern for implementing acloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating another pattern for implementinga cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating another pattern for implementinga cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating another pattern for implementinga cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system,according to at least one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, various embodiments will be described. Forpurposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments.However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that theembodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Furthermore,well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscurethe embodiment being described.

Cloud-based platforms provide scalable and flexible computing resourcesfor users. Such cloud-based platforms, also referred to asinfrastructure as a service (IaaS) may offer entire suites of cloudsolutions around a customer's data, for example solutions for authoringtransformations, loading data, and presenting the data. Users of IaaSresources may request to create a secure terminal in a secure shellinstance, so that operations and data transfers may be carried outsecurely (e.g., with two-way encryption via a Web Socket secure (wss)connection).

In some embodiments, a shell instance can be a specialized computeinstance that may run a docker container (e.g., a host) and may allow auser device to run terminals on that docker container. A user device maybe assigned a single host, but may also create multiple active terminalson that host. A shell instance may be terminated after a period ofinactivity. The instance may run the host, which may in turn run asecure shell (e.g., a terminal). In some embodiments, instances and/orhosts also may be terminated when no terminals have been active on thehost for a period of time.

In some embodiments, an instance agent may run on an allocated instanceand may handle receiving Web Socket traffic and sending that traffic toa secure shell running on the host. The instance agent may be an HTTPserver that may be configured to open secure Web Socket connections andto redirect the input and output to a terminal (e.g., a secure shellrunning on a docker container) running on the instance. In someembodiments, the agent may identify an updated version of the dockercontainer, may start the docker container, and may create the terminalin the container. In some embodiments, the agent may further specializethe docker container to contain secure shell configuration informationand may execute the terminal in the docker container at least in part bypassing in specific environmental variables.

In some embodiments, a volume manager service can persist user data froma terminated instance to a subsequently configured instance for the sameuser. The volume manager service may identify and attach a user blockvolume to a secure shell instance when it is available, and may generatea backup of the user data for the instance as part of terminateoperations at the end of an instance lifetime. Backup operations mayinclude retaining user data for a retention period, a backup in objectstorage, and/or a backup image (e.g., a volume image). The volumemanager system may create backups prior to releasing the user blockvolumes. The volume manager service may communicate with a sessionmanager service, which may query the instance agent to ascertain an idletime for the secure shell instance. The session manager service mayrequest the volume manager service to release the user block volumeafter the idle time has exceeded a lifetime of the instance. In somecases, the session manager service may request the volume managerservice to release the user block volume after a retention period haselapsed. The retention period may provide reduced latency when a userrequests a new secure shell instance by re-attaching the user blockvolume without restoring user data from block storage to a newlyconfigured block volume.

To restore the user block volume as part of creating a secure shellinstance backup user data may be transferred from the object storage, orother backup storage format, as part of a restore process. For example,the volume manager service may reserve an empty block volume (e.g., atleast partially pre-configured for attachment to a secure shellinstance) and may request backup user data to be transferred by a backupservice to provision the empty block volume. The volume manager servicemay return a unique identifier of the restored user block volume to thesession manager service as part of configuring the secure shellinstance, thereby persisting user data from a terminated instance to anew restored instance.

In some embodiments, the techniques described herein may be incorporatedas computer-executable instructions in a software developer kit (SDK)that may be used by the web-based terminal to create and access theseresources. In this way, the SDK could also be used by other providers toimplement a secure web-based terminal. Additionally, the techniquesdescribed herein may permit a user device to connect to a secure shellrunning one or more terminals with improved security and latency. Forexample, by persisting user data automatically, rather than relying onmanual instructions to configure a backup, the session manager maypotentially improve inefficiency introduced by uneven system load, andoverhead introduced by UI backup system requests and by maintaining userblock volumes for periods of time between user connections to secureshell instances (e.g., when a user is not accessing the user data).Latency may be reduced in termination processes by automating blockvolume storage management, rather than relying on user initiatedrelease. In this way, connection requests may encounter brieferwait-times for block volumes to be reserved during periods of highsystem demand and low storage availability in a given data center orIaaS region.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 for managing secure shellinstances, in accordance with one or more embodiments. In someembodiments, the system 100 may permit a user to connect securely to acompute instance (e.g., a virtual machine (VM) or a docker). Secureaccess may permit a user to connect to a distributed computing systemresource (e.g., Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)) including, but notlimited to, distributed storage, compute cores, etc., over an encryptedconnection (e.g., https, and/or Web Socket Secure (wss)) for real-timedata transfer with a VM of the IaaS system. In some embodiments, a userdevice 110 may generate a signed request for a secure shell instance,and may send the signed request to a session manager service 120. Thesession manager service 120 may perform operations as part of validatingthe user device 110 and configuring a secure shell instance as part offulfilling the signed request.

In some embodiments, the user device 110 may generate the signed requestusing a user interface including, but not limited to a graphical userinterface console, or a command line interface (CLI). The user interfaceinclude an identity authorization service, which may generate a userpublic/private key pair. In some cases, the user public/private key pairmay be a temporary key pair generated, for example, at theinitialization of a session, at the time of generating a request for asecure VM connection, etc. The user device 110 may generate the signedrequest using the private key of the user public/private key pair.

In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 may implement oneor more authorization steps as part of managing and preparing a secureshell instance. The authorization may include receiving and validatingthe signed request, for example, by requesting the public key and usingthe key to validate the signature of the signed request (e.g., as a stepof validating the identity of the user device 110).

In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 may fulfill thesigned request at least in part by reserving and configuring a secureshell instance. In some cases, the session manager service 120 maycommunicate with a volume manager service 130 to reserve a block volume140. The volume manager service 130 may return a domain identifier ofthe block volume 140 to the session manager service 120. In someembodiments, the domain identifier may describe one or more data centerswithin a geographic region (e.g., an availability domain (AD)) of theblock volume 140 that has been reserved. As described in more detail inreference to the figures, below, the volume manager service 130 mayfacilitate one or more techniques for persisting user data acrossmultiple secure shell sessions. For example, the techniques may includegenerating a user data backup in response to receiving a release requestby the volume manager service 130, in some cases, before releasing theuser block volume from the secure shell instance and terminating asecure shell session.

In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 may provide thedomain identifier of the block volume 140 (e.g., the AD of the reservedblock volume) to an instance manager service 150. The instance managerservice 150 may allocate a compute instance in the AD provided by thevolume manager service. The instance manager service 150 may provideinstance identifier information (e.g., a cloud infrastructure ID) forthe allocated instance to the session manager service 120. Allocation ofa compute instance may be done on a per-user basis and/or on aper-compartment basis (where a compartment is a logical container thatcontrols access to cloud system resources, and may includesub-compartments). For example, the session manager service 120 mayallocate separate instances for a user in different compartments. Incontrast, the session manager service 120 may allocate a single computeinstance for multiple containers, such that separate containers sharethe same compute instance, one container per compartment (where acontainer is a packaged software application that may includeapplication code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, andsettings).

In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 may provide theinstance identifier to the user device 110, along with a router addressof a router 160. The router 160 may be configured to connect the userdevice to a secure shell instance, as described in more detail below(e.g., via a duplexing web socket connection). Furthermore, the routermay also be configured to validate the user device 110 and the sessionmanager service 120 as part of securely connecting the user device 110to the secure shell instance.

In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 may generate anonce token as a part of the authorization and validation of the userdevice 110 secure connection to a secure shell instance. In someembodiments, the nonce token may be a web token (e.g., a JavaScriptObject Notation “j son” web token (jwt token)) containing informationincluding, but not limited to a header, a validity period (e.g., inminutes before expiration), a key, and/or a random string (e.g., analphanumeric sequence of set length). In some cases, the nonce token isgenerated and provided to the user device 110 along with the instanceidentifier and the router address.

As part of configuring the secure shell instance, the session managerservice 120 may select and configure an existing instance from a pool ofavailable instances 180, as described in more detail in reference to thefigures below. In some cases, the session manager service may install aconfiguration file and a delegation token in the selected instance. Theconfiguration may include parameter information including, but notlimited to, the instance identifier, the domain identifier, requestdetails (e.g., resource allocations, compartment, tenancy), etc. Thedelegation token may be installed in the user's shell environment on theinstance. The token may provide a proof that the user is authenticatedand may allow the user to execute commands against their account withoutthe need to re-authenticate. In some embodiments, an IaaS system maydeny any CLI commands executed against a user account for which thedelegation token is not installed in the user's shell environment.

In some embodiments, the configuration parameters installed by thesession manager service 120 may be stored in an instance configurationstore 190. The instance configuration store 190 may permit a new secureshell instance to be restored and/or reconfigured with requestparameters following termination of the secure shell instance. In someembodiments, the secure shell instance will be terminated when the userhas completed using it. In some embodiments, the session manager service120 may instruct the instance manager service 150 to terminate thesecure shell instance based on a period of inactivity (e.g., an idletime) of the agent and/or activity via the router 160. The idle time maybe provided as part of the configuration parameters. In someembodiments, a user of the user device 110 may request the secure shellinstance to be terminated, which may be implemented by the sessionmanager service 120.

As described above, the example system 100 may provide improved securityand stability of IaaS systems, at least by permitting a user device toconnect to a secure shell instance from a console and/or command lineinterface. Persisting user data during instance restore operations,rather than maintaining a user block volume, may reduce the potentialeffects of breakout from a container by restoring data from a systemservice that holds the data without read-write access when not in use,rather than maintaining a block volume that could potentially becompromised.

The example system 100 may further improve security and performance ofIaaS systems through implementing user data persistence techniques. Forexample, generating user data backups and generating a restore volume inresponse to receiving a restore request may reduce system resource usageassociated with maintaining a user block volume. Instead, a backup maybe stored in a low-overhead storage format (e.g., disk image, etc.)until the data is requested for a restored secure shell session.Similarly, maintaining user block volumes may present some level of riskif the system 100 is breached. Holding user data as a backup inlong-term storage, for example, in a system that does not permitread-write operations, may reduce the risk of unauthorized access touser data between secure shell sessions.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example technique 200 for reserving a block volumefor a secure shell instance, in accordance with one or more embodiments.As part of reserving and configuring the shell instance, as described inmore detail in reference to FIG. 1, above, the session manager service120 may perform one or more operations in coordination with constituentservices of the example system 100 of FIG. 1.

In some embodiments, the session manager service may receive a requestfrom the user device to connect to a secure shell (e.g., operation 202),as described above in reference to authorizing and validating the userrequest. In response to receiving the user request, the session managerservice 120 may reserve a volume in coordination with the volume managerservice 130 (e.g., operation 204). Reserving the volume may involvesteps including, but not limited to, ascertaining, by the volume managerservice 130, whether one or more block volumes are already associatedand/or assigned to the user (e.g., user block volumes 230) of the userdevice 110 and are available to host the secure shell instance 250(e.g., operation 206). This may include checking a user identifier(e.g., a username or login ID) against a registry of block volumesmanaged by the volume manager service 130. Where a user block volume 230is identified, domain identifier information (e.g., a resource ID, adata-center infrastructure locator, etc.) may be returned to the sessionmanager service 120 to indicate the volume has been reserved to host thesecure shell instance 250 (e.g., operation 208).

The volume manager service 130 may find that a user block volume 230 isnot available to attach to the secure shell instance 250. In someembodiments, the volume manager service 130 may reserve an empty blockvolume 240, which may include one or more of the block volumes 140 thatare available at the given data center and/or IaaS region to which auser may not already be assigned. Similarly, the volume manager service130 may provide resource identifier information for the session managerservice 120 to implement in subsequent operations. For example, thesession manager service 120 may allocate an instance in the block volume140 returned by the volume manager service 130 (e.g., operation 210).

In some embodiments, allocating the instance may include providing thedomain identifier to the instance manager service 150. As described inmore detail in reference to FIG. 1, the instance manager service 150 mayselect and reserve an existing instance that is maintained as part of anumber of available instances (e.g., instances 180 of FIG. 1) that maybe at least partially pre-configured for use as secure shell instances.The instance manager service 150 may return an instance identifier(e.g., instance ID) to the session manager service 120, which may permitthe session manager service 120 to identify the selected instance insubsequent operations. In some embodiments, selecting and reserving anexisting instance, rather than creating and configuring an instance atthe time of implementing the connection request, may potentially reducesystem latency in processing the connection request.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example technique 300 for releasing a block volumeincluding user data from a secure shell instance, in accordance with oneor more embodiments. One or more sub-systems of the system 100 of FIG. 1(e.g., the session manager service 120 the volume manager service 130,and the instance manager service 150) may perform operations associatedwith terminating and/or restoring a secure shell instance (e.g., secureshell instance 250 of FIG. 2). Ending a secure shell session, forexample, when a user of a user device (e.g., user device 110 of FIG. 1)requests to disconnect from the secure shell instance, may includedetaching the user block volume from the secure shell instance and oneor more additional and/or alternative operations, as described below.

In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 requests an idletime from an instance agent 350 (e.g., operation 302). As describedabove, the instance agent 350 may be an HTTP server that may beconfigured to open secure Web Socket connections and to redirect theinput and output to a terminal (e.g., a secure shell running on a dockercontainer) running on the instance. In some embodiments, the agent mayidentify an updated version of the docker container, may start thedocker container, and may create the terminal in the container. In someembodiments, the agent may further specialize the docker container tocontain secure shell configuration information and may execute theterminal in the docker container at least in part by passing in specificenvironmental variables.

In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 may be configuredto terminate the secure shell instance after a period of time haselapsed since the last connection that exceeds a threshold time and/orafter a user request to disconnect or terminate the secure shellinstance. In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 may senda request to the instance manager service 150 to terminate the secureshell instance after the idle time returned by the instance agent 350exceeds a configured lifetime of the secure shell instance (e.g.,operation 304). In response, the instance manager service 150 mayimplement additional operations to terminate the secure shell instance(e.g., in coordination with the instance agent 350).

As part of the termination operations, the volume manager service 130may receive a request to release the block volume (e.g., operation 308).In some embodiments, the block volume (e.g., block volumes 140 ofFIG. 1) may contain user data generated and/or stored during the secureshell session, which may be valuable to a user of the user device (e.g.,user device 110 of FIG. 1). In this way, the volume manager service 130may implement one or more operations to facilitate terminating thesecure shell instance including, but not limited to, creating a backupof the block volume (e.g., operation 310).

In some embodiments, the volume manager service 130 may create thebackup using a backup service 340. The backup service may include anexternal IaaS resource including, but not limited to, a block storageservice 342, an object storage service 344, a volume image service 346,etc. In some embodiments, the volume manager service 130 may maintainthe user block volume during a retention period, rather than creating abackup. The retention period may provide reduced latency when a userrequests a new secure shell instance by re-attaching the user blockvolume without requesting a backup to be created, or by restoring userdata from block storage to a newly configured block volume.

In some embodiments, the volume manager service 130 may create thebackup using the object storage service 344, such that the backup isformatted for transfer to an object storage system. In contrast to blockvolume storage, object storage may potentially reduce IaaS systemoverhead, by permitting data to be stored as chunk objects in a datastore, reducing the resources required to maintain a user block volume.In some embodiments, the object storage service 344 may permit thebackup to store user data for lower cost in terms of system resources,albeit introducing additional data formatting conversion operations thatmay introduce latency into secure shell session restore processes.

In some embodiments, the volume manager service 130 may create thebackup by creating a volume image (e.g., using volume image service346). A volume image (e.g., a disk image of the block volume) mayinclude, as a computer file, the contents and structure of the volume.The volume image may be created by generating a copy with a manifest ofblocks preserving the structure of the original block volume. In somecases, the volume image may be compressed relative to the block volume,to potentially reduce the size of the image to that of the data storedin the block volume (e.g., omitting excess or unused reserved capacityin the block volume). The volume image may permit user data to berestored from a single file, rather than a restore procedure thatincludes provisioning multiple blocks and/or chunk objects. As such, itmay permit system restore operations with potentially reduced latency aswell as reduced resource demands, due at least in part to notmaintaining a block volume for user data between secure shell sessions.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example technique 400 for restoring a block volumefor a restored secure shell instance, in accordance with one or moreembodiments. One or more sub-systems of the system 100 of FIG. 1 (e.g.,the session manager service 120 the volume manager service 130, and theinstance manager service 150) may perform operations associated withterminating and/or restoring a secure shell instance (e.g., secure shellinstance 250 of FIG. 2). Restoring the secure shell instance may includecreating a new secure shell instance with an empty block volume andprovisioning the empty block volume with backup data (also referred toas “hydrating” the empty block volume).

In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 may receive arequest from the user device 110 to connect to a secure shell instance,as described in more detail in reference to FIG. 1, above (e.g.,operation 402). In a restore operation of the technique 400, the userrequest may include a request to reconnect to a secure shell instanceafter the session manager service 120 has requested a terminationoperation (e.g., technique 300 of FIG. 3), rather than an initialconfiguration and/or connection to a secure shell instance.

In some embodiments, the session manager service 120 may request for thevolume manager service to reserve a block volume 140 to attach to thesecure shell instance, as described in more detail in reference to FIG.2, above. Instead of searching for a user block volume, as describedpreviously, the volume manager service 130 may reserve an empty blockvolume 240 (e.g., operation 404). The empty block volume 240 may bepreconfigured for attaching to a secure shell instance, for example, aspart of a pool of block volumes.

The volume manager service 130 may provision the empty block volume 240with backup user data 430 (e.g., operation 406). As described in moredetail in reference to FIG. 2, the backup user data 430 may be stored ina number of different data formats including, but not limited to blockstorage and object storage, for example, as a disk image (e.g., as asingle file) or distributed into multiple data subunits (e.g., blocks,objects, etc.). In some embodiments, the volume manager service 130 mayrequest that the reserved empty block volume be provisioned with thebackup user data 430 using a backup service (e.g., backup service 340 ofFIG. 3). In some embodiments, the backup service may facilitate thetransfer of the backup user data 430 (e.g., blocks) over a distributedstorage system (e.g., a cloud storage system). In some embodiments,provisioning the empty block volume 240 may include reformatting thebackup user data 430 into block data from object data (e.g., in caseswhere the backup is stored as object data), as described in more detailin reference to FIG. 3, above.

In some embodiments, the volume manager service 130 may identify a datacenter (e.g., AD) identifier of the empty block volume for which thebackup user data 430 is provisioned (e.g., operation 408). Identifyingthe data center identifier may include ascertaining a hardware addressof the empty block volume 240 in IaaS infrastructure (e.g., a datacenter) that may identify systems where the backup user data 430 isstored. Once identified, the volume manager service 130 may return thedata center identifier to the session manager service 120 (e.g.,operation 410). The session manager service 120 may use the data centeridentifier to provide to the instance manager service (e.g., instancemanager service 150 of FIG. 1), as part of configuring and creating asecure shell instance, as described in more detail in reference to FIGS.1-2, above.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sequence diagram showing an example data flow 500by which a block volume including user data is released, in accordancewith one or more embodiments. A user of the user device 110 requests toconnect to a secure shell instance and the session manager service 120requests the volume manager service to reserve a volume. After thesession manager service 120 determines to terminate the secure shellinstance, it requests the volume manager service 130 to release theblock volume.

In data flow 500, the user device 110 (which may be an example of userdevice 110 of FIG. 1) may submit a request to connect to a secure shellinstance. as described in more detail in reference to FIGS. 1-2, whichmay be received by the session manager service 120. Upon receiving therequest, the session manager service 120 may configure a shell instance,as described in more detail in reference to the figures above.Configuring a shell instance may include multiple operations including,but not limited to reserving a volume, allocating an instance from anumber of available instances that are created for the purpose ofconfiguring a secure shell instance, and installing a configuration fileon the allocated instance.

Reserving the volume may include one or more operations includingrequesting for the volume manager service 130 to reserve a block volume,as described in more detail in reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4. Forexample, reserving a block volume may include searching existing blockvolumes for a user block volume (e.g., user block volumes 230 of FIG. 2)containing user data, and returning the data center identifier of theuser block volume to the session manager service 120. In some cases, aswhen a user block volume is not found by the volume manager service 130,the volume manager service may identify and return a data centeridentifier (e.g., AD identifier) of a reserved block volume (e.g., anempty block volume 240 of FIG. 2).

Configuring the shell instance may include receiving, by the sessionmanager service 120, a shell instance identifier from an instancemanager service (e.g., an IaaS resource identifier). As described inmore detail in reference to FIGS. 1-2, the instance may be reserved froma pool of instances at least partially pre-configured, to which thereserved volume may be attached. Attaching the reserved volume mayinclude one or more operations, for example, requesting for the volumemanager service 130 to attach the volume. In response to a request bythe session manager service 120, the volume manager service 130 mayattach the volume, and return a confirmation to the session managerservice 120.

When the session manager service 120 determines that the secure shellinstance is idle and/or the user of the user device 110 requests toterminate the secure shell instance, the session manager service 120 mayrequest the volume manager service 130 to release the block volume, asdescribed in more detail in reference to FIG. 3. As part of releasingthe block volume, the volume manager service may create a backup of theuser data contained in the block volume. The volume manager service mayreceive, as part of the backup operation, a backup identifier from abackup service 340. In some embodiments, the backup operation may beperformed by the backup service, as described in more detail inreference to FIG. 3.

Releasing the block volume may include removing the user data from theblock volume (e.g., reformatting) to return the storage capacity toavailability for future configuration of block volumes. As part ofreleasing the block volume, the volume manager service 130 may confirmthat the block volume has been released to the session manager service120.

FIG. 6 illustrates a sequence diagram showing an example data flow 600by which user data is persisted to a restored secure shell instance, inaccordance with one or more embodiments. A user of the user device 110requests to connect and/or reconnect to a secure shell instance and thesession manager service 120 may request the volume manager service 130to restore the user volume. The volume manager service 130 maycoordinate with the backup service 340 to provision the restore volume.

In data flow 600, the session manager service 120 may receive aconnection request from the user device 110. When the user device 110previously has been connected to a secure shell instance, and the datafrom that instance has been stored in a backup, as described in moredetail in reference to FIG. 3, the session manager service 120 may senda restore request to the volume manager service 130. The restore requestmay include identifying information describing the user of the userdevice 110 and/or the backup user data (e.g., user identifier, username,last session identifier, backup identifier, etc.).

The volume manager service 130 may reserve an empty block volume (e.g.,empty block volume 240 of FIG. 2) instead of searching for an existinguser block volume (e.g., user block volume 230 of FIG. 2). As opposed tothe operations described in reference to FIG. 2, the volume managerservice 130 may provide a backup identifier to the backup service 340,as part of a provisioning process to restore user backup data (e.g.,user backup data 430 of FIG. 4).

Provisioning the restore volume may include transferring backup datafrom the backup storage system to the empty block volume by the backupservice 340. This may include restoring the structure of the data toreproduce the user block volume. The volume manager service 130 mayprovide the data center identifier of the empty block volume to thebackup service 340, which may provision the empty volume with the backupdata. In some embodiments, the volume manager service 130 may performthe provisioning operations by providing the backup data identifier tothe backup service 340, receiving the corresponding user backup data,and restoring the data to the reserved block volume.

Once provisioned, the volume manager service 130 may provide the restorevolume identifier to the session manager service 120, which maycorrespond to the data center identifier of the empty block volume.Using this identifier, the session manager service 120 may perform theoperations as described in more detail in reference to FIG. 2,including, but not limited to reserving an instance from a pool ofpre-configured instances and requesting the volume manager service 130to attach the restore volume to the reserved instance. The volumemanager service 130 may, in some cases, confirm attachment of therestore volume by returning a confirmation to the session managerservice 120.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example flow for releasing a block volume for asecure shell instance, in accordance with one or more embodiments. Theoperations of the flow can be implemented as hardware circuitry and/orstored as computer-readable instructions on a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of a computer system, such as the volumemanager service 130 of FIG. 1. As implemented, the instructionsrepresent modules that include circuitry or code executable by aprocessor(s) of the computer system. The execution of such instructionsconfigures the computer system to perform the specific operationsdescribed herein. Each circuitry or code in combination with theprocessor performs the respective operation(s). While the operations areillustrated in a particular order, it should be understood that noparticular order is necessary and that one or more operations may beomitted, skipped, and/or reordered.

In an example, the flow 700 includes an operation 702, where thecomputer system receives a request to reserve a block volume. Asdescribed in more detail in reference to FIG. 2, the request may begenerated by a session manager service (e.g., session manager service120 of FIG. 1) in response to a request from a user device (e.g., userdevice 110 of FIG. 1) to connect to a secure shell instance (e.g.,secure shell instance 250 of FIG. 2). The request may include a useridentifier associated with the user device 110 (e.g., a username, loginID, session ID, network address, etc.).

In an example, the flow 700 includes an operation 704, where thecomputer system reserves the block volume. Reserving the block volumemay include ascertaining, by the volume manager service, whether a userblock volume (e.g., user block volume 230 of FIG. 2) is being maintainedby a block volume storage system of the IaaS system to which the volumemanager service is connected, as described in more detail in referenceto FIG. 8, below. Otherwise, the volume manager service may reserve anempty block volume (e.g., empty block volume 240 of FIG. 2).

In an example, the flow 700 includes an operation 706, where thecomputer system identifies a data center identifier of the block volume.The data center identifier may describe the IaaS storage resource (e.g.,networked storage infrastructure) that maintains the block volume (e.g.,block volumes 140 of FIG. 1), and may be unique to a single data centerof the IaaS system (e.g., an installation in a particular geographicregion).

In an example, the flow 700 includes an operation 708, where thecomputer system returns the data center identifier of the block volume.The volume manager system may provide the data center identifier of thereserved block volume identified as part of operation 708 to the sessionmanager service. The session manager service may, in turn, provide thedata center identifier of the reserved block volume to an instancemanager service (e.g., instance manager service 150 of FIG. 1) as partof configuring the secure shell instance, as described in more detail inreference to FIGS. 1-2.

In an example, the flow 700 includes an operation 710, where thecomputer system attaches the block volume. The volume manager servicemay attach the reserved block volume to an instance allocated from apool of partially pre-configured instances (e.g., instances 180 of FIG.1), selected by the instance manager service for use in creating thesecure shell instance.

In an example, the flow 700 includes an operation 712, where thecomputer system receives an instruction to release the block volume. Thevolume manager service may receive the request from the session managerservice, as described in more detail in reference to FIG. 3, after thesession manager service has ascertained an idle time for the secureshell instance that exceeds a lifetime of the secure shell instance. Insome embodiments, the user of the user device may also request toterminate the secure shell instance. The session manager service mayrequest the volume manager service to release the reserved block volumeas one of multiple operations associated with terminating the secureshell instance, for example, disconnecting the secure shell instance(e.g., as a docker container) from a docker, deleting the instance, andde-associating compute resources from the block volume, to potentiallyprotect core IaaS resources and user data.

In some embodiments, a retention time may follow secure shelltermination during which user block volume data may be maintained and/orretained. Retention of user block volume data may reduce latencyassociated with initializing a new secure shell instance, for example,by attaching user block volume data to the new secure shell instancewithout restoring user data from a backup, such as object storage. Insome embodiments, the retention time may include a number of hours or anumber of days, for example, 12 hours, 24 hours, 36 hours, 48 hours, 72hours, etc. In some embodiments, the retention time may be calculatedfrom the end of the idle time, such that a secure shell instance timeoutmay trigger the termination of the instance, but a user block volume maybe retained after idle timeout until the retention period (e.g., 72hours) has elapsed.

In an example, the flow 700 includes an operation 714, where thecomputer system creates a backup of the block volume. The volume managerservice may request a backup to be made as part of releasing the blockvolume. The backup, as described in more detail in reference to FIG. 3,may be created in different formats including, but not limited to, blockstorage, object storage, and/or as a volume image. The backup data(e.g., user backup data 430 of FIG. 4) may be created by a backupservice (e.g., backup service 340 of FIG. 3), which may be a IaaS coreservice with which the volume manager service communicates.

In an example, the flow 700 includes an operation 716, where thecomputer system releases the block volume. The volume manager servicemay release the block volume at least in part by reformatting the volume(e.g., clearing the data stored in the block volume) and de-associatingthe storage resources previously identified with the block volume to beavailable for other uses. In contrast to maintaining a user blockvolume, as during the retention time after terminating a secure shellinstance, releasing the block volume may permit the IaaS systemsdescribed herein to operate with reduced computational overhead, bypotentially reducing the resources dedicated to maintaining user blockvolumes during periods of time in which a user is not connected to asecure shell instance.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example flow for reserving a block volume for asecure shell instance, in accordance with one or more embodiments. Theoperations of the flow can be implemented as hardware circuitry and/orstored as computer-readable instructions on a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of a computer system, such as the volumemanager service 130 of FIG. 1. As implemented, the instructionsrepresent modules that include circuitry or code executable by aprocessor(s) of the computer system. The execution of such instructionsconfigures the computer system to perform the specific operationsdescribed herein. Each circuitry or code in combination with theprocessor performs the respective operation(s). While the operations areillustrated in a particular order, it should be understood that noparticular order is necessary and that one or more operations may beomitted, skipped, and/or reordered.

In an example, the flow 800 includes one or more operations that may beperformed by the volume manager service in response to receiving arequest to reserve a block volume (e.g., operation 702 of FIG. 7). Assuch, the flow 800 includes the operation 702, whereby the volumemanager service receives the request to reserve the block volume from asession manager service (e.g., session manager service 120 of FIG. 1).

In an example, the flow 800 includes an operation 804, where thecomputer system determines whether a registered block volume isallocated. The registered block volume may be a block volume associatedwith the user of the user device (e.g., user device 110 of FIG. 1). Assuch, the operation 804 may include ascertaining, by the volume managerservice, whether a user block volume (e.g., user block volume 230 ofFIG. 2) is being maintained by a block volume storage system of the IaaSsystem to which the volume manager service is connected.

In an example, the flow 800 includes an operation 806, where thecomputer system, in accordance with a registered block volume beingallocated, reserves the registered block volume. In cases where theoperation 804 returns a data center identifier of a user block volume,the volume manager service may reserve the user block volume forattachment to the secure shell instance.

In an example, the flow 800 includes an operation 808, where thecomputer system, in accordance with a registered block volume not beingallocated, reserves an empty volume. In contrast to operation 806, whena user block volume is unavailable, the volume manager service mayreserve an empty block volume (e.g., empty block volume 240 of FIG. 2).The empty block volume may be at least partially pre-configured with oneor more settings and/or configuration parameters for attachment to asecure compute instance.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example flow 900 for restoring a block volume fora secure shell instance, in accordance with one or more embodiments. Theoperations of the flow can be implemented as hardware circuitry and/orstored as computer-readable instructions on a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of a computer system, such as the volumemanager service 130 of FIG. 1. As implemented, the instructionsrepresent modules that include circuitry or code executable by aprocessor(s) of the computer system. The execution of such instructionsconfigures the computer system to perform the specific operationsdescribed herein. Each circuitry or code in combination with theprocessor performs the respective operation(s). While the operations areillustrated in a particular order, it should be understood that noparticular order is necessary and that one or more operations may beomitted, skipped, and/or reordered.

In an example, the flow 900 includes an operation 902, where thecomputer system receives a request to restore the block volume. Asdescribed in more detail in reference to FIG. 4, the volume managerservice may receive the request to restore the block volume from asession manager service (e.g., session manager service 120 of FIG. 1),after the user of a user device (e.g., user device 110 of FIG. 1)requests to reconnect to a secure shell instance (e.g., secure shellinstance 250 of FIG. 2). In some embodiments, the request may include auser identifier, by which the volume manager service may implement oneor more backup restoration operations, described below.

In an example, the flow 900 includes an operation 904, where thecomputer system reserves an empty block volume from a pool of emptyvolumes. In contrast to the operations described in reference to flow800 of FIG. 8, the volume manager service may implement the restorerequest of the operation 902 at least in part by reserving an emptyblock volume (e.g., empty block volume 240 of FIG. 2), withoutascertaining whether a user block volume is being maintained by an IaaSdata storage system. For example, when a backup has been created, asdescribed in more detail in reference to FIG. 7, the volume managerservice may reserve an empty block volume without performing theoperations described in reference to FIG. 8.

Alternatively, the volume manager system may implement the operationsdescribed in reference to FIG. 8, by ascertaining whether a user blockvolume is being maintained by the IaaS data storage system. In this way,the volume manager service may return the user block volume data centeridentifier rather than reserving an empty block volume.

In an example, the flow 900 includes an operation 906, where thecomputer system requests the user backup data. The volume managerservice may request the user data backup (e.g., user data backup 430 ofFIG. 4) to be transferred to the reserved empty block volume of theoperation 904. The request may be made of a backup service (e.g., backupservice 340 of FIG. 3), which may be a core IaaS service thatfacilitates data backup and restore operations.

In an example, the flow 900 includes an operation 908, where thecomputer system provisions the empty block volume. As described in moredetail in reference to FIG. 4, provisioning the empty block volume mayinclude operations to recreate the structure of the user block volume(e.g., user block volume 230 of FIG. 2) preceding the backup operation(e.g., operation 714 of FIG. 7).

In an example, the flow 900 includes an operation 910, where thecomputer system, identifies the data center identifier of the emptyblock volume. The volume manager service may identify the data centeridentifier of the empty block volume as the data center identifier ofthe restore volume, such that the restore volume may be attached to thesecure shell instance. The data center identifier may be a uniqueidentifier corresponding to the data center (e.g., IaaS infrastructure)where the empty block volume is maintained.

In an example, the flow 900 includes an operation 912, where thecomputer system, returns the data center identifier of the restorevolume. The data center identifier may be returned by the volume managerservice to the session manager service, for configuration of the secureshell instance as described in more detail in reference to FIGS. 1-2,above.

As noted above, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is one particulartype of cloud computing. IaaS can be configured to provide virtualizedcomputing resources over a public network (e.g., the Internet). In anIaaS model, a cloud computing provider can host the infrastructurecomponents (e.g., servers, storage devices, network nodes (e.g.,hardware), deployment software, platform virtualization (e.g., ahypervisor layer), or the like). In some cases, an IaaS provider mayalso supply a variety of services to accompany those infrastructurecomponents (e.g., billing, monitoring, logging, security, load balancingand clustering, etc.). Thus, as these services may be policy-driven,IaaS users may be able to implement policies to drive load balancing tomaintain application availability and performance.

In some instances, IaaS customers may access resources and servicesthrough a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, and can use thecloud provider's services to install the remaining elements of anapplication stack. For example, the user can log in to the IaaS platformto create virtual machines (VMs), install operating systems (OSs) oneach VM, deploy middleware such as databases, create storage buckets forworkloads and backups, and even install enterprise software into thatVM. Customers can then use the provider's services to perform variousfunctions, including balancing network traffic, troubleshootingapplication issues, monitoring performance, managing disaster recovery,etc.

In most cases, a cloud computing model will require the participation ofa cloud provider. The cloud provider may, but need not be, a third-partyservice that specializes in providing (e.g., offering, renting, selling)IaaS. An entity might also opt to deploy a private cloud, becoming itsown provider of infrastructure services.

In some examples, IaaS deployment is the process of putting a newapplication, or a new version of an application, onto a preparedapplication server or the like. It may also include the process ofpreparing the server (e.g., installing libraries, daemons, etc.). Thisis often managed by the cloud provider, below the hypervisor layer(e.g., the servers, storage, network hardware, and virtualization).Thus, the customer may be responsible for handling (OS), middleware,and/or application deployment (e.g., on self-service virtual machines(e.g., that can be spun up on demand) or the like.

In some examples, IaaS provisioning may refer to acquiring computers orvirtual hosts for use, and even installing needed libraries or serviceson them. In most cases, deployment does not include provisioning, andthe provisioning may need to be performed first.

In some cases, there are two different problems for IaaS provisioning.First, there is the initial challenge of provisioning the initial set ofinfrastructure before anything is running. Second, there is thechallenge of evolving the existing infrastructure (e.g., adding newservices, changing services, removing services, etc.) once everythinghas been provisioned. In some cases, these two challenges may beaddressed by enabling the configuration of the infrastructure to bedefined declaratively. In other words, the infrastructure (e.g., whatcomponents are needed and how they interact) can be defined by one ormore configuration files. Thus, the overall topology of theinfrastructure (e.g., what resources depend on which, and how they eachwork together) can be described declaratively. In some instances, oncethe topology is defined, a workflow can be generated that creates and/ormanages the different components described in the configuration files.

In some examples, an infrastructure may have many interconnectedelements. For example, there may be one or more virtual private clouds(VPCs) (e.g., a potentially on-demand pool of configurable and/or sharedcomputing resources), also known as a core network. In some examples,there may also be one or more security group rules provisioned to definehow the security of the network will be set up and one or more virtualmachines (VMs). Other infrastructure elements may also be provisioned,such as a load balancer, a database, or the like. As more and moreinfrastructure elements are desired and/or added, the infrastructure mayincrementally evolve.

In some instances, continuous deployment techniques may be employed toenable deployment of infrastructure code across various virtualcomputing environments. Additionally, the described techniques canenable infrastructure management within these environments. In someexamples, service teams can write code that is desired to be deployed toone or more, but often many, different production environments (e.g.,across various different geographic locations, sometimes spanning theentire world). However, in some examples, the infrastructure on whichthe code will be deployed must first be set up. In some instances, theprovisioning can be done manually, a provisioning tool may be utilizedto provision the resources, and/or deployment tools may be utilized todeploy the code once the infrastructure is provisioned.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram 1000 illustrating an example pattern of anIaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Serviceoperators 1002 can be communicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy1004 that can include a virtual cloud network (VCN) 1006 and a securehost subnet 1008. In some examples, the service operators 1002 may beusing one or more client computing devices, which may be portablehandheld devices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®,computing tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA)) or wearabledevices (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display), running softwaresuch as Microsoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 8, Palm OS, andthe like, and being Internet, e-mail, short message service (SMS),Blackberry®, or other communication protocol enabled. Alternatively, theclient computing devices can be general purpose personal computersincluding, by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computersrunning various versions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/orLinux operating systems. The client computing devices can be workstationcomputers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX® orUNIX-like operating systems, including without limitation the variety ofGNU/Linux operating systems, such as for example, Google Chrome OS.Alternatively, or in addition, client computing devices may be any otherelectronic device, such as a thin-client computer, an Internet-enabledgaming system (e.g., a Microsoft Xbox gaming console with or without aKinect® gesture input device), and/or a personal messaging device,capable of communicating over a network that can access the VCN 1006and/or the Internet.

The VCN 1006 can include a local peering gateway (LPG) 1010 that can becommunicatively coupled to a secure shell (SSH) VCN 1012 via an LPG 1010contained in the SSH VCN 1012. The SSH VCN 1012 can include an SSHsubnet 1014, and the SSH VCN 1012 can be communicatively coupled to acontrol plane VCN 1016 via the LPG 1010 contained in the control planeVCN 1016. Also, the SSH VCN 1012 can be communicatively coupled to adata plane VCN 1018 via an LPG 1010. The control plane VCN 1016 and thedata plane VCN 1018 can be contained in a service tenancy 1019 that canbe owned and/or operated by the IaaS provider.

The control plane VCN 1016 can include a control plane demilitarizedzone (DMZ) tier 1020 that acts as a perimeter network (e.g., portions ofa corporate network between the corporate intranet and externalnetworks). The DMZ-based servers may have restricted responsibilitiesand help keep security breaches contained. Additionally, the DMZ tier1020 can include one or more load balancer (LB) subnet(s) 1022, acontrol plane app tier 1024 that can include app subnet(s) 1026, acontrol plane data tier 1028 that can include database (DB) subnet(s)1030 (e.g., frontend DB subnet(s) and/or backend DB subnet(s)). The LBsubnet(s) 1022 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 1020 can becommunicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 1026 contained in thecontrol plane app tier 1024 and an Internet gateway 1034 that can becontained in the control plane VCN 1016, and the app subnet(s) 1026 canbe communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 1030 contained in thecontrol plane data tier 1028 and a service gateway 1036 and a networkaddress translation (NAT) gateway 1038. The control plane VCN 1016 caninclude the service gateway 1036 and the NAT gateway 1038.

The control plane VCN 1016 can include a data plane mirror app tier 1040that can include app subnet(s) 1026. The app subnet(s) 1026 contained inthe data plane mirror app tier 1040 can include a virtual networkinterface controller (VNIC) 1042 that can execute a compute instance1044. The compute instance 1044 can communicatively couple the appsubnet(s) 1026 of the data plane mirror app tier 1040 to app subnet(s)1026 that can be contained in a data plane app tier 1046.

The data plane VCN 1018 can include the data plane app tier 1046, a dataplane DMZ tier 1048, and a data plane data tier 1050. The data plane DMZtier 1048 can include LB subnet(s) 1022 that can be communicativelycoupled to the app subnet(s) 1026 of the data plane app tier 1046 andthe Internet gateway 1034 of the data plane VCN 1018. The app subnet(s)1026 can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 1036 of thedata plane VCN 1018 and the NAT gateway 1038 of the data plane VCN 1018.The data plane data tier 1050 can also include the DB subnet(s) 1030that can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 1026 of thedata plane app tier 1046.

The Internet gateway 1034 of the control plane VCN 1016 and of the dataplane VCN 1018 can be communicatively coupled to a metadata managementservice 1052 that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet1054. Public Internet 1054 can be communicatively coupled to the NATgateway 1038 of the control plane VCN 1016 and of the data plane VCN1018. The service gateway 1036 of the control plane VCN 1016 and of thedata plane VCN 1018 can be communicatively couple to cloud services1056.

In some examples, the service gateway 1036 of the control plane VCN 1016or of the data plan VCN 1018 can make application programming interface(API) calls to cloud services 1056 without going through public Internet1054. The API calls to cloud services 1056 from the service gateway 1036can be one-way: the service gateway 1036 can make API calls to cloudservices 1056, and cloud services 1056 can send requested data to theservice gateway 1036. But, cloud services 1056 may not initiate APIcalls to the service gateway 1036.

In some examples, the secure host tenancy 1004 can be directly connectedto the service tenancy 1019, which may be otherwise isolated. The securehost subnet 1008 can communicate with the SSH subnet 1014 through an LPG1010 that may enable two-way communication over an otherwise isolatedsystem. Connecting the secure host subnet 1008 to the SSH subnet 1014may give the secure host subnet 1008 access to other entities within theservice tenancy 1019.

The control plane VCN 1016 may allow users of the service tenancy 1019to set up or otherwise provision desired resources. Desired resourcesprovisioned in the control plane VCN 1016 may be deployed or otherwiseused in the data plane VCN 1018. In some examples, the control plane VCN1016 can be isolated from the data plane VCN 1018, and the data planemirror app tier 1040 of the control plane VCN 1016 can communicate withthe data plane app tier 1046 of the data plane VCN 1018 via VNICs 1042that can be contained in the data plane mirror app tier 1040 and thedata plane app tier 1046.

In some examples, users of the system, or customers, can make requests,for example create, read, update, or delete (CRUD) operations, throughpublic Internet 1054 that can communicate the requests to the metadatamanagement service 1052. The metadata management service 1052 cancommunicate the request to the control plane VCN 1016 through theInternet gateway 1034. The request can be received by the LB subnet(s)1022 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 1020. The LB subnet(s) 1022may determine that the request is valid, and in response to thisdetermination, the LB subnet(s) 1022 can transmit the request to appsubnet(s) 1026 contained in the control plane app tier 1024. If therequest is validated and requires a call to public Internet 1054, thecall to public Internet 1054 may be transmitted to the NAT gateway 1038that can make the call to public Internet 1054. Memory that may bedesired to be stored by the request can be stored in the DB subnet(s)1030.

In some examples, the data plane mirror app tier 1040 can facilitatedirect communication between the control plane VCN 1016 and the dataplane VCN 1018. For example, changes, updates, or other suitablemodifications to configuration may be desired to be applied to theresources contained in the data plane VCN 1018. Via a VNIC 1042, thecontrol plane VCN 1016 can directly communicate with, and can therebyexecute the changes, updates, or other suitable modifications toconfiguration to, resources contained in the data plane VCN 1018.

In some embodiments, the control plane VCN 1016 and the data plane VCN1018 can be contained in the service tenancy 1019. In this case, theuser, or the customer, of the system may not own or operate either thecontrol plane VCN 1016 or the data plane VCN 1018. Instead, the IaaSprovider may own or operate the control plane VCN 1016 and the dataplane VCN 1018, both of which may be contained in the service tenancy1019. This embodiment can enable isolation of networks that may preventusers or customers from interacting with other users', or othercustomers', resources. Also, this embodiment may allow users orcustomers of the system to store databases privately without needing torely on public Internet 1054, which may not have a desired level ofsecurity, for storage.

In other embodiments, the LB subnet(s) 1022 contained in the controlplane VCN 1016 can be configured to receive a signal from the servicegateway 1036. In this embodiment, the control plane VCN 1016 and thedata plane VCN 1018 may be configured to be called by a customer of theIaaS provider without calling public Internet 1054. Customers of theIaaS provider may desire this embodiment since database(s) that thecustomers use may be controlled by the IaaS provider and may be storedon the service tenancy 1019, which may be isolated from public Internet1054.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram 1100 illustrating another example pattern ofan IaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Serviceoperators 1102 (e.g. service operators 1002 of FIG. 10) can becommunicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 1104 (e.g. the securehost tenancy 1004 of FIG. 10) that can include a virtual cloud network(VCN) 1106 (e.g. the VCN 1006 of FIG. 10) and a secure host subnet 1108(e.g. the secure host subnet 1008 of FIG. 10). The VCN 1106 can includea local peering gateway (LPG) 1110 (e.g. the LPG 1010 of FIG. 10) thatcan be communicatively coupled to a secure shell (SSH) VCN 1112 (e.g.the SSH VCN 1012 of FIG. 10) via an LPG 1010 contained in the SSH VCN1112. The SSH VCN 1112 can include an SSH subnet 1114 (e.g. the SSHsubnet 1014 of FIG. 10), and the SSH VCN 1112 can be communicativelycoupled to a control plane VCN 1116 (e.g. the control plane VCN 1016 ofFIG. 10) via an LPG 1110 contained in the control plane VCN 1116. Thecontrol plane VCN 1116 can be contained in a service tenancy 1119 (e.g.the service tenancy 1019 of FIG. 10), and the data plane VCN 1118 (e.g.the data plane VCN 1018 of FIG. 10) can be contained in a customertenancy 1121 that may be owned or operated by users, or customers, ofthe system.

The control plane VCN 1116 can include a control plane DMZ tier 1120(e.g. the control plane DMZ tier 1020 of FIG. 10) that can include LBsubnet(s) 1122 (e.g. LB subnet(s) 1022 of FIG. 10), a control plane apptier 1124 (e.g. the control plane app tier 1024 of FIG. 10) that caninclude app subnet(s) 1126 (e.g. app subnet(s) 1026 of FIG. 10), acontrol plane data tier 1128 (e.g. the control plane data tier 1028 ofFIG. 10) that can include database (DB) subnet(s) 1130 (e.g. similar toDB subnet(s) 1030 of FIG. 10). The LB subnet(s) 1122 contained in thecontrol plane DMZ tier 1120 can be communicatively coupled to the appsubnet(s) 1126 contained in the control plane app tier 1124 and anInternet gateway 1134 (e.g. the Internet gateway 1034 of FIG. 10) thatcan be contained in the control plane VCN 1116, and the app subnet(s)1126 can be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 1130 containedin the control plane data tier 1128 and a service gateway 1136 (e.g. theservice gateway of FIG. 10) and a network address translation (NAT)gateway 1138 (e.g. the NAT gateway 1038 of FIG. 10). The control planeVCN 1116 can include the service gateway 1136 and the NAT gateway 1138.

The control plane VCN 1116 can include a data plane mirror app tier 1140(e.g. the data plane mirror app tier 1040 of FIG. 10) that can includeapp subnet(s) 1126. The app subnet(s) 1126 contained in the data planemirror app tier 1140 can include a virtual network interface controller(VNIC) 1142 (e.g. the VNIC of 1042) that can execute a compute instance1144 (e.g. similar to the compute instance 1044 of FIG. 10). The computeinstance 1144 can facilitate communication between the app subnet(s)1126 of the data plane mirror app tier 1140 and the app subnet(s) 1126that can be contained in a data plane app tier 1146 (e.g. the data planeapp tier 1046 of FIG. 10) via the VNIC 1142 contained in the data planemirror app tier 1140 and the VNIC 1142 contained in the data plan apptier 1146.

The Internet gateway 1134 contained in the control plane VCN 1116 can becommunicatively coupled to a metadata management service 1152 (e.g. themetadata management service 1052 of FIG. 10) that can be communicativelycoupled to public Internet 1154 (e.g. public Internet 1054 of FIG. 10).Public Internet 1154 can be communicatively coupled to the NAT gateway1138 contained in the control plane VCN 1116. The service gateway 1136contained in the control plane VCN 1116 can be communicatively couple tocloud services 1156 (e.g. cloud services 1056 of FIG. 10).

In some examples, the data plane VCN 1118 can be contained in thecustomer tenancy 1121. In this case, the IaaS provider may provide thecontrol plane VCN 1116 for each customer, and the IaaS provider may, foreach customer, set up a unique compute instance 1144 that is containedin the service tenancy 1119. Each compute instance 1144 may allowcommunication between the control plane VCN 1116, contained in theservice tenancy 1119, and the data plane VCN 1118 that is contained inthe customer tenancy 1121. The compute instance 1144 may allowresources, that are provisioned in the control plane VCN 1116 that iscontained in the service tenancy 1119, to be deployed or otherwise usedin the data plane VCN 1118 that is contained in the customer tenancy1121.

In other examples, the customer of the IaaS provider may have databasesthat live in the customer tenancy 1121. In this example, the controlplane VCN 1116 can include the data plane mirror app tier 1140 that caninclude app subnet(s) 1126. The data plane mirror app tier 1140 canreside in the data plane VCN 1118, but the data plane mirror app tier1140 may not live in the data plane VCN 1118. That is, the data planemirror app tier 1140 may have access to the customer tenancy 1121, butthe data plane mirror app tier 1140 may not exist in the data plane VCN1118 or be owned or operated by the customer of the IaaS provider. Thedata plane mirror app tier 1140 may be configured to make calls to thedata plane VCN 1118 but may not be configured to make calls to anyentity contained in the control plane VCN 1116. The customer may desireto deploy or otherwise use resources in the data plane VCN 1118 that areprovisioned in the control plane VCN 1116, and the data plane mirror apptier 1140 can facilitate the desired deployment, or other usage ofresources, of the customer.

In some embodiments, the customer of the IaaS provider can apply filtersto the data plane VCN 1118. In this embodiment, the customer candetermine what the data plane VCN 1118 can access, and the customer mayrestrict access to public Internet 1154 from the data plane VCN 1118.The IaaS provider may not be able to apply filters or otherwise controlaccess of the data plane VCN 1118 to any outside networks or databases.Applying filters and controls by the customer onto the data plane VCN1118, contained in the customer tenancy 1121, can help isolate the dataplane VCN 1118 from other customers and from public Internet 1154.

In some embodiments, cloud services 1156 can be called by the servicegateway 1136 to access services that may not exist on public Internet1154, on the control plane VCN 1116, or on the data plane VCN 1118. Theconnection between cloud services 1156 and the control plane VCN 1116 orthe data plane VCN 1118 may not be live or continuous. Cloud services1156 may exist on a different network owned or operated by the IaaSprovider. Cloud services 1156 may be configured to receive calls fromthe service gateway 1136 and may be configured to not receive calls frompublic Internet 1154. Some cloud services 1156 may be isolated fromother cloud services 1156, and the control plane VCN 1116 may beisolated from cloud services 1156 that may not be in the same region asthe control plane VCN 1116. For example, the control plane VCN 1116 maybe located in “Region 1,” and cloud service “Deployment 10,” may belocated in Region 1 and in “Region 2.” If a call to Deployment 10 ismade by the service gateway 1136 contained in the control plane VCN 1116located in Region 1, the call may be transmitted to Deployment 10 inRegion 1. In this example, the control plane VCN 1116, or Deployment 10in Region 1, may not be communicatively coupled to, or otherwise incommunication with, Deployment 10 in Region 2.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram 1200 illustrating another example pattern ofan IaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Serviceoperators 1202 (e.g. service operators 1002 of FIG. 10) can becommunicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 1204 (e.g. the securehost tenancy 1004 of FIG. 10) that can include a virtual cloud network(VCN) 1206 (e.g. the VCN 1006 of FIG. 10) and a secure host subnet 1208(e.g. the secure host subnet 1008 of FIG. 10). The VCN 1206 can includean LPG 1210 (e.g. the LPG 1010 of FIG. 10) that can be communicativelycoupled to an SSH VCN 1212 (e.g. the SSH VCN 1012 of FIG. 10) via an LPG1210 contained in the SSH VCN 1212. The SSH VCN 1212 can include an SSHsubnet 1214 (e.g. the SSH subnet 1014 of FIG. 10), and the SSH VCN 1212can be communicatively coupled to a control plane VCN 1216 (e.g. thecontrol plane VCN 1016 of FIG. 10) via an LPG 1210 contained in thecontrol plane VCN 1216 and to a data plane VCN 1218 (e.g. the data plane1018 of FIG. 10) via an LPG 1210 contained in the data plane VCN 1218.The control plane VCN 1216 and the data plane VCN 1218 can be containedin a service tenancy 1219 (e.g. the service tenancy 1019 of FIG. 10).

The control plane VCN 1216 can include a control plane DMZ tier 1220(e.g. the control plane DMZ tier 1020 of FIG. 10) that can include loadbalancer (LB) subnet(s) 1222 (e.g. LB subnet(s) 1022 of FIG. 10), acontrol plane app tier 1224 (e.g. the control plane app tier 1024 ofFIG. 10) that can include app subnet(s) 1226 (e.g. similar to appsubnet(s) 1026 of FIG. 10), a control plane data tier 1228 (e.g. thecontrol plane data tier 1028 of FIG. 10) that can include DB subnet(s)1230. The LB subnet(s) 1222 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 1220can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 1226 contained inthe control plane app tier 1224 and to an Internet gateway 1234 (e.g.the Internet gateway 1034 of FIG. 10) that can be contained in thecontrol plane VCN 1216, and the app subnet(s) 1226 can becommunicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 1230 contained in thecontrol plane data tier 1228 and to a service gateway 1236 (e.g. theservice gateway of FIG. 10) and a network address translation (NAT)gateway 1238 (e.g. the NAT gateway 1038 of FIG. 10). The control planeVCN 1216 can include the service gateway 1236 and the NAT gateway 1238.

The data plane VCN 1218 can include a data plane app tier 1246 (e.g. thedata plane app tier 1046 of FIG. 10), a data plane DMZ tier 1248 (e.g.the data plane DMZ tier 1048 of FIG. 10), and a data plane data tier1250 (e.g. the data plane data tier 1050 of FIG. 10). The data plane DMZtier 1248 can include LB subnet(s) 1222 that can be communicativelycoupled to trusted app subnet(s) 1260 and untrusted app subnet(s) 1262of the data plane app tier 1246 and the Internet gateway 1234 containedin the data plane VCN 1218. The trusted app subnet(s) 1260 can becommunicatively coupled to the service gateway 1236 contained in thedata plane VCN 1218, the NAT gateway 1238 contained in the data planeVCN 1218, and DB subnet(s) 1230 contained in the data plane data tier1250. The untrusted app subnet(s) 1262 can be communicatively coupled tothe service gateway 1236 contained in the data plane VCN 1218 and DBsubnet(s) 1230 contained in the data plane data tier 1250. The dataplane data tier 1250 can include DB subnet(s) 1230 that can becommunicatively coupled to the service gateway 1236 contained in thedata plane VCN 1218.

The untrusted app subnet(s) 1262 can include one or more primary VNICs1264(1)-(N) that can be communicatively coupled to tenant virtualmachines (VMs) 1266(1)-(N). Each tenant VM 1266(1)-(N) can becommunicatively coupled to a respective app subnet 1267(1)-(N) that canbe contained in respective container egress VCNs 1268(1)-(N) that can becontained in respective customer tenancies 1270(1)-(N). Respectivesecondary VNICs 1272(1)-(N) can facilitate communication between theuntrusted app subnet(s) 1262 contained in the data plane VCN 1218 andthe app subnet contained in the container egress VCNs 1268(1)-(N). Eachcontainer egress VCNs 1268(1)-(N) can include a NAT gateway 1238 thatcan be communicatively coupled to public Internet 1254 (e.g. publicInternet 1054 of FIG. 10).

The Internet gateway 1234 contained in the control plane VCN 1216 andcontained in the data plane VCN 1218 can be communicatively coupled to ametadata management service 1252 (e.g. the metadata management system1052 of FIG. 10) that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet1254. Public Internet 1254 can be communicatively coupled to the NATgateway 1238 contained in the control plane VCN 1216 and contained inthe data plane VCN 1218. The service gateway 1236 contained in thecontrol plane VCN 1216 and contained in the data plane VCN 1218 can becommunicatively couple to cloud services 1256.

In some embodiments, the data plane VCN 1218 can be integrated withcustomer tenancies 1270. This integration can be useful or desirable forcustomers of the IaaS provider in some cases such as a case that maydesire support when executing code. The customer may provide code to runthat may be destructive, may communicate with other customer resources,or may otherwise cause undesirable effects. In response to this, theIaaS provider may determine whether to run code given to the IaaSprovider by the customer.

In some examples, the customer of the IaaS provider may grant temporarynetwork access to the IaaS provider and request a function to beattached to the data plane tier app 1246. Code to run the function maybe executed in the VMs 1266(1)-(N), and the code may not be configuredto run anywhere else on the data plane VCN 1218. Each VM 1266(1)-(N) maybe connected to one customer tenancy 1270. Respective containers1271(1)-(N) contained in the VMs 1266(1)-(N) may be configured to runthe code. In this case, there can be a dual isolation (e.g., thecontainers 1271(1)-(N) running code, where the containers 1271(1)-(N)may be contained in at least the VM 1266(1)-(N) that are contained inthe untrusted app subnet(s) 1262), which may help prevent incorrect orotherwise undesirable code from damaging the network of the IaaSprovider or from damaging a network of a different customer. Thecontainers 1271(1)-(N) may be communicatively coupled to the customertenancy 1270 and may be configured to transmit or receive data from thecustomer tenancy 1270. The containers 1271(1)-(N) may not be configuredto transmit or receive data from any other entity in the data plane VCN1218. Upon completion of running the code, the IaaS provider may kill orotherwise dispose of the containers 1271(1)-(N).

In some embodiments, the trusted app subnet(s) 1260 may run code thatmay be owned or operated by the IaaS provider. In this embodiment, thetrusted app subnet(s) 1260 may be communicatively coupled to the DBsubnet(s) 1230 and be configured to execute CRUD operations in the DBsubnet(s) 1230. The untrusted app subnet(s) 1262 may be communicativelycoupled to the DB subnet(s) 1230, but in this embodiment, the untrustedapp subnet(s) may be configured to execute read operations in the DBsubnet(s) 1230. The containers 1271(1)-(N) that can be contained in theVM 1266(1)-(N) of each customer and that may run code from the customermay not be communicatively coupled with the DB subnet(s) 1230.

In other embodiments, the control plane VCN 1216 and the data plane VCN1218 may not be directly communicatively coupled. In this embodiment,there may be no direct communication between the control plane VCN 1216and the data plane VCN 1218. However, communication can occur indirectlythrough at least one method. An LPG 1210 may be established by the IaaSprovider that can facilitate communication between the control plane VCN1216 and the data plane VCN 1218. In another example, the control planeVCN 1216 or the data plane VCN 1218 can make a call to cloud services1256 via the service gateway 1236. For example, a call to cloud services1256 from the control plane VCN 1216 can include a request for a servicethat can communicate with the data plane VCN 1218.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram 1300 illustrating another example pattern ofan IaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Serviceoperators 1302 (e.g. service operators 1002 of FIG. 10) can becommunicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 1304 (e.g. the securehost tenancy 1004 of FIG. 10) that can include a virtual cloud network(VCN) 1306 (e.g. the VCN 1006 of FIG. 10) and a secure host subnet 1308(e.g. the secure host subnet 1008 of FIG. 10). The VCN 1306 can includean LPG 1310 (e.g. the LPG 1010 of FIG. 10) that can be communicativelycoupled to an SSH VCN 1312 (e.g. the SSH VCN 1012 of FIG. 10) via an LPG1310 contained in the SSH VCN 1312. The SSH VCN 1312 can include an SSHsubnet 1314 (e.g. the SSH subnet 1014 of FIG. 10), and the SSH VCN 1312can be communicatively coupled to a control plane VCN 1316 (e.g. thecontrol plane VCN 1016 of FIG. 10) via an LPG 1310 contained in thecontrol plane VCN 1316 and to a data plane VCN 1318 (e.g. the data plane1018 of FIG. 10) via an LPG 1310 contained in the data plane VCN 1318.The control plane VCN 1316 and the data plane VCN 1318 can be containedin a service tenancy 1319 (e.g. the service tenancy 1019 of FIG. 10).

The control plane VCN 1316 can include a control plane DMZ tier 1320(e.g. the control plane DMZ tier 1020 of FIG. 10) that can include LBsubnet(s) 1322 (e.g. LB subnet(s) 1022 of FIG. 10), a control plane apptier 1324 (e.g. the control plane app tier 1024 of FIG. 10) that caninclude app subnet(s) 1326 (e.g. app subnet(s) 1026 of FIG. 10), acontrol plane data tier 1328 (e.g. the control plane data tier 1028 ofFIG. 10) that can include DB subnet(s) 1330 (e.g. DB subnet(s) 1230 ofFIG. 12). The LB subnet(s) 1322 contained in the control plane DMZ tier1320 can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 1326 containedin the control plane app tier 1324 and to an Internet gateway 1334 (e.g.the Internet gateway 1034 of FIG. 10) that can be contained in thecontrol plane VCN 1316, and the app subnet(s) 1326 can becommunicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 1330 contained in thecontrol plane data tier 1328 and to a service gateway 1336 (e.g. theservice gateway of FIG. 10) and a network address translation (NAT)gateway 1338 (e.g. the NAT gateway 1038 of FIG. 10). The control planeVCN 1316 can include the service gateway 1336 and the NAT gateway 1338.

The data plane VCN 1318 can include a data plane app tier 1346 (e.g. thedata plane app tier 1046 of FIG. 10), a data plane DMZ tier 1348 (e.g.the data plane DMZ tier 1048 of FIG. 10), and a data plane data tier1350 (e.g. the data plane data tier 1050 of FIG. 10). The data plane DMZtier 1348 can include LB subnet(s) 1322 that can be communicativelycoupled to trusted app subnet(s) 1360 (e.g. trusted app subnet(s) 1260of FIG. 12) and untrusted app subnet(s) 1362 (e.g. untrusted appsubnet(s) 1262 of FIG. 12) of the data plane app tier 1346 and theInternet gateway 1334 contained in the data plane VCN 1318. The trustedapp subnet(s) 1360 can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway1336 contained in the data plane VCN 1318, the NAT gateway 1338contained in the data plane VCN 1318, and DB subnet(s) 1330 contained inthe data plane data tier 1350. The untrusted app subnet(s) 1362 can becommunicatively coupled to the service gateway 1336 contained in thedata plane VCN 1318 and DB subnet(s) 1330 contained in the data planedata tier 1350. The data plane data tier 1350 can include DB subnet(s)1330 that can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 1336contained in the data plane VCN 1318.

The untrusted app subnet(s) 1362 can include primary VNICs 1364(1)-(N)that can be communicatively coupled to tenant virtual machines (VMs)1366(1)-(N) residing within the untrusted app subnet(s) 1362. Eachtenant VM 1366(1)-(N) can run code in a respective container1367(1)-(N), and be communicatively coupled to an app subnet 1326 thatcan be contained in a data plane app tier 1346 that can be contained ina container egress VCN 1368. Respective secondary VNICs 1372(1)-(N) canfacilitate communication between the untrusted app subnet(s) 1362contained in the data plane VCN 1318 and the app subnet contained in thecontainer egress VCN 1368. The container egress VCN can include a NATgateway 1338 that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 1354(e.g. public Internet 1054 of FIG. 10).

The Internet gateway 1334 contained in the control plane VCN 1316 andcontained in the data plane VCN 1318 can be communicatively coupled to ametadata management service 1352 (e.g. the metadata management system1052 of FIG. 10) that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet1354. Public Internet 1354 can be communicatively coupled to the NATgateway 1338 contained in the control plane VCN 1316 and contained inthe data plane VCN 1318. The service gateway 1336 contained in thecontrol plane VCN 1316 and contained in the data plane VCN 1318 can becommunicatively couple to cloud services 1356.

In some examples, the pattern illustrated by the architecture of blockdiagram 1300 of FIG. 13 may be considered an exception to the patternillustrated by the architecture of block diagram 1200 of FIG. 12 and maybe desirable for a customer of the IaaS provider if the IaaS providercannot directly communicate with the customer (e.g., a disconnectedregion). The respective containers 1367(1)-(N) that are contained in theVMs 1366(1)-(N) for each customer can be accessed in real-time by thecustomer. The containers 1367(1)-(N) may be configured to make calls torespective secondary VNICs 1372(1)-(N) contained in app subnet(s) 1326of the data plane app tier 1346 that can be contained in the containeregress VCN 1368. The secondary VNICs 1372(1)-(N) can transmit the callsto the NAT gateway 1338 that may transmit the calls to public Internet1354. In this example, the containers 1367(1)-(N) that can be accessedin real-time by the customer can be isolated from the control plane VCN1316 and can be isolated from other entities contained in the data planeVCN 1318. The containers 1367(1)-(N) may also be isolated from resourcesfrom other customers.

In other examples, the customer can use the containers 1367(1)-(N) tocall cloud services 1356. In this example, the customer may run code inthe containers 1367(1)-(N) that requests a service from cloud services1356. The containers 1367(1)-(N) can transmit this request to thesecondary VNICs 1372(1)-(N) that can transmit the request to the NATgateway that can transmit the request to public Internet 1354. PublicInternet 1354 can transmit the request to LB subnet(s) 1322 contained inthe control plane VCN 1316 via the Internet gateway 1334. In response todetermining the request is valid, the LB subnet(s) can transmit therequest to app subnet(s) 1326 that can transmit the request to cloudservices 1356 via the service gateway 1336.

It should be appreciated that IaaS architectures 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300depicted in the figures may have other components than those depicted.Further, the embodiments shown in the figures are only some examples ofa cloud infrastructure system that may incorporate an embodiment of thedisclosure. In some other embodiments, the IaaS systems may have more orfewer components than shown in the figures, may combine two or morecomponents, or may have a different configuration or arrangement ofcomponents.

In certain embodiments, the IaaS systems described herein may include asuite of applications, middleware, and database service offerings thatare delivered to a customer in a self-service, subscription-based,elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner. Anexample of such an IaaS system is the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)provided by the present assignee.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example computer system 1400, in which variousembodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The system1400 may be used to implement any of the computer systems describedabove. As shown in the figure, computer system 1400 includes aprocessing unit 1404 that communicates with a number of peripheralsubsystems via a bus subsystem 1402. These peripheral subsystems mayinclude a processing acceleration unit 1406, an I/O subsystem 1408, astorage subsystem 1418 and a communications subsystem 1424. Storagesubsystem 1418 includes tangible computer-readable storage media 1422and a system memory 1410.

Bus subsystem 1402 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 1400 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 1402 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilizemultiple buses. Bus subsystem 1402 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Forexample, such architectures may include an Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can beimplemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1standard.

Processing unit 1404, which can be implemented as one or more integratedcircuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller),controls the operation of computer system 1400. One or more processorsmay be included in processing unit 1404. These processors may includesingle core or multicore processors. In certain embodiments, processingunit 1404 may be implemented as one or more independent processing units1432 and/or 1434 with single or multicore processors included in eachprocessing unit. In other embodiments, processing unit 1404 may also beimplemented as a quad-core processing unit formed by integrating twodual-core processors into a single chip.

In various embodiments, processing unit 1404 can execute a variety ofprograms in response to program code and can maintain multipleconcurrently executing programs or processes. At any given time, some orall of the program code to be executed can be resident in processor(s)1404 and/or in storage subsystem 1418. Through suitable programming,processor(s) 1404 can provide various functionalities described above.Computer system 1400 may additionally include a processing accelerationunit 1406, which can include a digital signal processor (DSP), aspecial-purpose processor, and/or the like.

I/O subsystem 1408 may include user interface input devices and userinterface output devices. User interface input devices may include akeyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad ortouch screen incorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel,a dial, a button, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voicecommand recognition systems, microphones, and other types of inputdevices. User interface input devices may include, for example, motionsensing and/or gesture recognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect®motion sensor that enables users to control and interact with an inputdevice, such as the Microsoft Xbox® 360 game controller, through anatural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. Userinterface input devices may also include eye gesture recognition devicessuch as the Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity(e.g., ‘blinking’ while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection)from users and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device(e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices mayinclude voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interactwith voice recognition systems (e.g., Siri® navigator), through voicecommands.

User interface input devices may also include, without limitation, threedimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks, gamepads andgraphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers, digitalcameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams, imagescanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3D printers,laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices. Additionally, userinterface input devices may include, for example, medical imaging inputdevices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging,position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography devices. Userinterface input devices may also include, for example, audio inputdevices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instruments and thelike.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicatorlights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Thedisplay subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device,such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, aprojection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of theterm “output device” is intended to include all possible types ofdevices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system1400 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface outputdevices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devicesthat visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such asmonitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems,plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Computer system 1400 may comprise a storage subsystem 1418 thatcomprises software elements, shown as being currently located within asystem memory 1410. System memory 1410 may store program instructionsthat are loadable and executable on processing unit 1404, as well asdata generated during the execution of these programs.

Depending on the configuration and type of computer system 1400, systemmemory 1410 may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/ornon-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.) TheRAM typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediatelyaccessible to and/or presently being operated and executed by processingunit 1404. In some implementations, system memory 1410 may includemultiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory(SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In some implementations,a basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within computer system1400, such as during start-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. Byway of example, and not limitation, system memory 1410 also illustratesapplication programs 1412, which may include client applications, Webbrowsers, mid-tier applications, relational database management systems(RDBMS), etc., program data 1414, and an operating system 1416. By wayof example, operating system 1416 may include various versions ofMicrosoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems, avariety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems(including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operatingsystems, the Google Chrome® OS, and the like) and/or mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS, BlackBerry® 14 OS, andPalm® OS operating systems.

Storage subsystem 1418 may also provide a tangible computer-readablestorage medium for storing the basic programming and data constructsthat provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software (programs,code modules, instructions) that when executed by a processor providethe functionality described above may be stored in storage subsystem1418. These software modules or instructions may be executed byprocessing unit 1404. Storage subsystem 1418 may also provide arepository for storing data used in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

Storage subsystem 1400 may also include a computer-readable storagemedia reader 1420 that can further be connected to computer-readablestorage media 1422. Together and, optionally, in combination with systemmemory 1410, computer-readable storage media 1422 may comprehensivelyrepresent remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plusstorage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing,storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readable information.

Computer-readable storage media 1422 containing code, or portions ofcode, can also include any appropriate media known or used in the art,including storage media and communication media, such as but not limitedto, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmissionof information. This can include tangible computer-readable storagemedia such as RAM, ROM, electronically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disk (DVD), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or other tangible computer readable media. This can also includenontangible computer-readable media, such as data signals, datatransmissions, or any other medium which can be used to transmit thedesired information and which can be accessed by computing system 1400.

By way of example, computer-readable storage media 1422 may include ahard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatilemagnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to aremovable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive thatreads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk such as aCD ROM, DVD, and Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media.Computer-readable storage media 1422 may include, but is not limited to,Zip® drives, flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flashdrives, secure digital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, andthe like. Computer-readable storage media 1422 may also include,solid-state drives (SSD) based on non-volatile memory such asflash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, andthe like, SSDs based on volatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamicRAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, andhybrid SSDs that use a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs.The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may providenon-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, and other data for computer system 1400.

Communications subsystem 1424 provides an interface to other computersystems and networks. Communications subsystem 1424 serves as aninterface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systemsfrom computer system 1400. For example, communications subsystem 1424may enable computer system 1400 to connect to one or more devices viathe Internet. In some embodiments communications subsystem 1424 caninclude radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessingwireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephonetechnology, advanced data network technology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE(enhanced data rates for global evolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 familystandards, or other mobile communication technologies, or anycombination thereof), global positioning system (GPS) receivercomponents, and/or other components. In some embodiments communicationssubsystem 1424 can provide wired network connectivity (e.g., Ethernet)in addition to or instead of a wireless interface.

In some embodiments, communications subsystem 1424 may also receiveinput communication in the form of structured and/or unstructured datafeeds 1426, event streams 1428, event updates 1430, and the like onbehalf of one or more users who may use computer system 1400.

By way of example, communications subsystem 1424 may be configured toreceive data feeds 1426 in real-time from users of social networksand/or other communication services such as Twitter® feeds, Facebook®updates, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and/orreal-time updates from one or more third party information sources.

Additionally, communications subsystem 1424 may also be configured toreceive data in the form of continuous data streams, which may includeevent streams 1428 of real-time events and/or event updates 1430, thatmay be continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicit end. Examplesof applications that generate continuous data may include, for example,sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performancemeasuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and traffic managementapplications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 1424 may also be configured to output thestructured and/or unstructured data feeds 1426, event streams 1428,event updates 1430, and the like to one or more databases that may be incommunication with one or more streaming data source computers coupledto computer system 1400.

Computer system 1400 can be one of various types, including a handheldportable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computingtablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounteddisplay), a PC, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, a server rack, orany other data processing system.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, thedescription of computer system 1400 depicted in the figure is intendedonly as a specific example. Many other configurations having more orfewer components than the system depicted in the figure are possible.For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, firmware, software (includingapplets), or a combination. Further, connection to other computingdevices, such as network input/output devices, may be employed. Based onthe disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thevarious embodiments.

Although specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described,various modifications, alterations, alternative constructions, andequivalents are also encompassed within the scope of the disclosure.Embodiments of the present disclosure are not restricted to operationwithin certain specific data processing environments, but are free tooperate within a plurality of data processing environments.Additionally, although embodiments of the present disclosure have beendescribed using a particular series of transactions and steps, it shouldbe apparent to those skilled in the art that the scope of the presentdisclosure is not limited to the described series of transactions andsteps. Various features and aspects of the above-described embodimentsmay be used individually or jointly.

Further, while embodiments of the present disclosure have been describedusing a particular combination of hardware and software, it should berecognized that other combinations of hardware and software are alsowithin the scope of the present disclosure. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be implemented only in hardware, or only in software, orusing combinations thereof. The various processes described herein canbe implemented on the same processor or different processors in anycombination. Accordingly, where components or modules are described asbeing configured to perform certain operations, such configuration canbe accomplished, e.g., by designing electronic circuits to perform theoperation, by programming programmable electronic circuits (such asmicroprocessors) to perform the operation, or any combination thereof.Processes can communicate using a variety of techniques including butnot limited to conventional techniques for inter process communication,and different pairs of processes may use different techniques, or thesame pair of processes may use different techniques at different times.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that additions, subtractions, deletions, and other modificationsand changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broaderspirit and scope as set forth in the claims. Thus, although specificdisclosure embodiments have been described, these are not intended to belimiting. Various modifications and equivalents are within the scope ofthe following claims.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the disclosed embodiments (especially in thecontext of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both thesingular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearlycontradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,”and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning“including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The term“connected” is to be construed as partly or wholly contained within,attached to, or joined together, even if there is something intervening.Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as ashorthand method of referring individually to each separate valuefalling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein and eachseparate value is incorporated into the specification as if it wereindividually recited herein. All methods described herein can beperformed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein orotherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and allexamples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, isintended merely to better illuminate embodiments of the disclosure anddoes not pose a limitation on the scope of the disclosure unlessotherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construedas indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice ofthe disclosure.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is intended to be understoodwithin the context as used in general to present that an item, term,etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y,and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to,and should not, imply that certain embodiments require at least one ofX, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

Preferred embodiments of this disclosure are described herein, includingthe best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the disclosure.Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to thoseof ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. Theinventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations asappropriate and the inventors intend for the disclosure to be practicedotherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, thisdisclosure includes all modifications and equivalents of the subjectmatter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicablelaw. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in allpossible variations thereof is encompassed by the disclosure unlessotherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.

All references, including publications, patent applications, andpatents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the sameextent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicatedto be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entiretyherein.

In the foregoing specification, aspects of the disclosure are describedwith reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in theart will recognize that the disclosure is not limited thereto. Variousfeatures and aspects of the above-described disclosure may be usedindividually or jointly. Further, embodiments can be utilized in anynumber of environments and applications beyond those described hereinwithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of thespecification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a computersystem, a request to reserve a block volume, the request being receivedfrom a session manager service; reserving, by the computer system, theblock volume; identifying, by the computer system, a data centeridentifier of the block volume; returning, by the computer system, thedata center identifier of the block volume to the session managerservice; attaching, by the computer system, the block volume; receiving,by the computer system, an instruction from the session manager serviceto release the block volume; creating, by the computer system, a backupof the block volume comprising the data stored in the block volume; andreleasing, by the computer system, the block volume.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the request comprises a user identifier, and whereinreserving the block volume comprises: determining whether a registeredblock volume is allocated to a user corresponding to the useridentifier; and in accordance with a registered block volume beingallocated to the user, reserving the registered block volume; inaccordance with a registered block volume not being allocated to a usercorresponding to the user identifier, reserving an empty volume from apool of empty volumes, the empty volume being preformatted to dock witha secure cloud shell.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving a request to restore the block volume, the request receivedfrom the session manager service; creating a restore volume using thebackup of the block volume, the restore volume comprising the datastored in the block volume; and returning a data center identifier ofthe restore volume to the session manager service.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the backup of the block volume further comprises anidentifier of the backup, and wherein creating the restore volumecomprises: reserving an empty block volume from a pool of empty volumes,the empty block volume being preformatted to dock with a secure cloudshell; retrieving the backup of the block volume using the identifier ofthe backup; provisioning the empty block volume at least in part byloading the backup of the block volume onto the empty block volume; andidentifying the data center identifier of the empty block volume as thedata center identifier of the restore volume.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising retaining the block volume during a retention period.6. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the backup of the blockvolume comprises creating a disk image of the block volume.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein creating the backup of the block volumecomprises: converting data of the block volume to object data; andstoring the object data in an object storage system.
 8. A computersystem, comprising: one or more processors; a memory in communicationwith the one or more processors, the memory configured to storecomputer-executable instructions, wherein executing thecomputer-executable instructions causes the one or more processors toperform steps comprising: receiving, by a computer system, a request toreserve a block volume, the request being received from a sessionmanager service; reserving, by the computer system, the block volume;identifying, by the computer system, a data center identifier of theblock volume; returning, by the computer system, the data centeridentifier of the block volume to the session manager service;attaching, by the computer system, the block volume; receiving, by thecomputer system, an instruction from the session manager service torelease the block volume; creating, by the computer system, a backup ofthe block volume comprising the data stored in the block volume; andreleasing, by the computer system, the block volume.
 9. The computersystem of claim 8, wherein the request comprises a user identifier, andwherein reserving the block volume comprises: determining whether aregistered block volume is allocated to a user corresponding to the useridentifier; and in accordance with a registered block volume beingallocated to the user, reserving the registered block volume; inaccordance with a registered block volume not being allocated to a usercorresponding to the user identifier, reserving an empty volume from apool of empty volumes, the empty volume being preformatted to dock witha secure cloud shell.
 10. The computer system of claim 8, whereinexecuting the computer-executable instructions further causes the one ormore processors to perform steps comprising: receiving a request torestore the block volume, the request received from the session managerservice; creating a restore volume using the backup of the block volume,the restore volume comprising the data stored in the block volume; andreturning a data center identifier of the restore volume to the sessionmanager service.
 11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the backupof the block volume further comprises an identifier of the backup, andwherein creating the restore volume comprises: reserving an empty blockvolume from a pool of empty volumes, the empty block volume beingpreformatted to dock with a secure cloud shell; retrieving the backup ofthe block volume using the identifier of the backup; provisioning theempty block volume at least in part by loading the backup of the blockvolume onto the empty block volume; and identifying the data centeridentifier of the empty block volume as the data center identifier ofthe restore volume.
 12. The computer system of claim 8, whereinexecuting the computer-executable instructions further causes the one ormore processors to perform steps comprising retaining the block volumeduring a retention period.
 13. The computer system of claim 8, whereincreating the backup of the block volume comprises creating a disk imageof the block volume.
 14. The computer system of claim 8, whereincreating the backup of the block volume comprises: converting data ofthe block volume to object data; and storing the object data in anobject storage system.
 15. A computer-readable storage medium, storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or moreprocessors of a computer system to perform steps comprising: receiving,by a computer system, a request to reserve a block volume, the requestbeing received from a session manager service; reserving, by thecomputer system, the block volume; identifying, by the computer system,a data center identifier of the block volume; returning, by the computersystem, the data center identifier of the block volume to the sessionmanager service; attaching, by the computer system, the block volume;receiving, by the computer system, an instruction from the sessionmanager service to release the block volume; creating, by the computersystem, a backup of the block volume comprising the data stored in theblock volume; and releasing, by the computer system, the block volume.16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein therequest comprises a user identifier, and wherein reserving the blockvolume comprises: determining whether a registered block volume isallocated to a user corresponding to the user identifier; and inaccordance with a registered block volume being allocated to the user,reserving the registered block volume; in accordance with a registeredblock volume not being allocated to a user corresponding to the useridentifier, reserving an empty volume from a pool of empty volumes, theempty volume being preformatted to dock with a secure cloud shell. 17.The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein executing thecomputer-executable instructions further causes the one or moreprocessors to perform steps comprising: receiving a request to restorethe block volume, the request received from the session manager service;creating a restore volume using the backup of the block volume, therestore volume comprising the data stored in the block volume; andreturning a data center identifier of the restore volume to the sessionmanager service.
 18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17,wherein the backup of the block volume further comprises an identifierof the backup, and wherein creating the restore volume comprises:reserving an empty block volume from a pool of empty volumes, the emptyblock volume being preformatted to dock with a secure cloud shell;retrieving the backup of the block volume using the identifier of thebackup; provisioning the empty block volume at least in part by loadingthe backup of the block volume onto the empty block volume; andidentifying the data center identifier of the empty block volume as thedata center identifier of the restore volume.
 19. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein executing the computer-executableinstructions further causes the one or more processors to perform stepscomprising retaining the block volume during a retention period.
 20. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein creating thebackup of the block volume comprises: converting data of the blockvolume to object data; and storing the object data in an object storagesystem.